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Mets Sign John Lannan And Omar Quintanilla

The New York Mets made two moves to bolster their rotation and infield depth with the signings of left-hander John Lannan and shortstop Omar Quintanilla.

LANNAN: To compete for No. 5 starter role.

Lannan, 3-6 with a 5.33 ERA last season with Philadelphia, was signed to a minor league contract with the intent of competing with Jenrry Mejia, Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom for the fifth-starter slot.

It was important to GM Sandy Alderson to sign a veteran to a minor league contract because of the expectation of Noah Syndergaard joining the rotation by July, similar to what Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey did the previous two seasons.

We’re not talking a stud pitcher in Lannan, but an experienced arm that can provide a bridge to Syndergaard in the first three months of the 2014 season. Lannan previously pitched for the Washington Nationals.

Most veteran pitchers on the market, such as Bronson Arroyo, wanted too much money and too many years, something the Mets wanted to avoid.

In Quintanilla, the Mets know what to expect as he filled in capably when Ruben Tejada went on the disabled list, then was optioned to the minors, for much of the season. Quintanilla hit .222 with a .306 on-base percentage, two homers and 21 RBI last season for the Mets.

Also with Quintanilla, it also eliminates the possibility of the Mets bringing in free agent Stephen Drew.

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I will attempt to respond. Follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

Our ss position is weak. Well our whole team is weak. Getting Drew ow I’ll make us better. But we are years away from competing. This offseason was yet another set back we cannot afford.

I am extremely disappointed that we spent $22m and did not get a decent OF. So we go into the season with a slightly better OF but arguably one not as good as last year when we had Byrd and two young guys providing energy and hitting 250